Читать книгу Hacking Innovation - Josh Linkner - Страница 16

After procrastinating for nearly a week, you finally get around to actually putting the clothes in the washing machine. You are pressed for time, but you’re finally out of clean underwear. You grab the bottle of detergent, turn it upside down, and...nothing. After 15 seconds completely inverted, a small drop peeks out from the bottle and lands in the machine. Frustration mounts as you realize that you’ll need to make a special trip to the store for more detergent, or, well, you’re out of other options.

This frustration is the exact thing the folks at Amazon are on the lookout for.

What began as an online bookstore has expanded into the 9^th most valuable company in the world, valued at over $340 billion, with 230,000 team members intently focused on discovering what’s next, rather than just executing what already is. Jeff Bezos, now the 8 ^th wealthiest American, views the company as a living organism whose purpose is to constantly evolve and adapt to changing circumstances. Right from the start, he worked to build a company that was fluid in its offerings and approach. The only immovable principles: an obsession with serving customers better and a commitment to ongoing innovation.

So how does this help with you standing in front of your washer without detergent or clean underwear? Instead of whipping the empty jug across the room in defeat, you press the small button affixed to the front of your washing machine. The button connects to your home Wi-Fi network, logs into your Amazon account, looks up your last order of detergent to ensure you get your favorite brand, and immediately ships you a fresh bottle overnight, billing the purchase to your credit card. All with the single touch of a button, the Amazon Dash button.

This little invention is one of hundreds that keeps Amazon on the forefront of change and progress. As you may expect, you can get a Dash Button for just about anything. A Glad button placed inside a kitchen drawer can be pressed to re-order plastic sandwich bags. Low on shaving cream? Press the Gillette button you placed in your bathroom to have it rushed your way. Paper towel, bug killer, dish soap, and even condoms are available with the touch of a button. Amazon is making it dead simple to do business with them.

Fueling Amazon’s incredible success is the fundamental hacker mindset that Nothing Is Static. Transforming from an online bookstore, to a full-scale online department store, to offering technology and web hosting services to other firms, and recently even venturing into space travel, the company is in a state of constant motion. Bezos reinforced this philosophy by saying, “A company shouldn’t get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn’t last.” What dazzles a customer today will be soon be commonplace, so he pushes his team to reinvent early and often.